Iceland's biggest internet service providers could block access to porn and gambling sites for safety reasons.

Vodafone and Síminn, two of the country's larget ISPs, are eyeing sites that feature x-rated material, gambling or other questionable content, according to RUV, Iceland's national broadcaster. So far, no formal decision has been made on any potential restrictions.

The block wouldn't be all-encompassing, as customers could still request access to such sites, reportedThe Reykjavik Grapevine, an Icelandic English-language magazine. But doing so would require users to tell their ISP what risqué sites they want to visit, it said.

Ahead of today's iPhone 5 event, all eyes are on Apple, but Google thought it would be a good time to remind everyone that Android, on the whole, is still bigger than iOS. According to Google's Director of Product Management for Android Hugo Barra, 500 million Android devices have been activated globally.

Barra, who shared the news on his Google+ account, also said that over 1.3 million Android devices are added every single day.

This number is even more amazing when you take into account that in July 2012, Google's Andy Rubin said 900,000 Android devices are activated every day, and in December 2011, that figure was 700,000.

Here we go again: About a year ago Mashable ran a story with almost the exact same headline as this one. In October 2011, Apple unveiled its fifth-generation iPhone to the world, except it wasn't called the iPhone 5. It was the iPhone 4S, an incremental update that had been predicted, although that was after many months of wild speculation.

Sound familiar? We've been hearing for months that we'll see the iPhone 5 this fall. Except this time it's the real deal -- when Apple sent out invitations for its Sept. 12 event, the shadow of the "12" was clearly made to look like the number five, with the accompanying caption "it's almost here." As my colleague Chris Taylor observed, that may no… Continue reading...

By now, you know that running anti-virus software is essential for protecting your computer against spyware, phishing scams and unsafe websites. Even Mac users are aware that they too are vulnerable to malware. But did you know that you need to protect yourself from hidden dangers on social networks as well?

Not only are there viruses, trojans and worms in cyberspace, there are hackers looking for clues to your identity -- clues that can be used to steal your passwords, similar to what happened to a journalist from Wired Magazine last month.

1. What is Newton?

The rollout of Apple's latest generation of gadgets on Wednesday will bring with it a new round of advertisements.

Shall the Mac Guy and his hoodie enjoy a revival? Can we expect a flashback to the colorful cheesiness of the 1980s? Likely none of the above, but feel free to let your dreams drift to the clouds -- or iCloud.

Actually, that's Rudy Ruettiger -- or Sean Astin, the actor who played both the underdog Notre Dame football player immortalized in the 1993 film Rudy, as well as Frodo Baggins' erstwhile sidekick.

Astin is part of a Pepsi Max digital marketing campaign, in which he employs his football expertise (or lack thereof) to engage in some gridiron banter with the NFL's latest crop of talent. The back-and-forth is good for a few chuckles, so check it out in the video above.

The little-known Cajun card game called bourre gained a certain level of notoriety among sports fans after it led to a pair of high-profile altercations between NBA players in 2010 and 2011.

First, star guard Gilbert Arenas nearly lost his career after wielding an unlicensed handgun in the team locker room following a bourre-related gambling dispute with a fellow Washington Wizard. Then a couple Memphis Grizzlies fought on a team charter flight after some high stakes bourre gone bad. The two incidents served to pull back a curtain on a previously unheard-of part of pro athlete gambling culture, but gave bourre (pronounced BOO-ray) a hint of menace as well.

Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7-Inch

The Amazon Kindle Fire HD is a 7-inch tablet that costs $199 and goes on sale Sept. 20. Like its predecessor, it's a bit buggy, but it's also one of the best tablet deals you can find. This is the library screen, which shows your books. Navigation to other media is in the strip up top.

Going all the way back to the earliest Kindle e-readers, Amazon has shown a penchant for re-imaging its hardware with almost every product update. It's a notable trait in an era where most other manufacturers seem content to deliver incremental updates.

It's especially laudable one when the re-imagined device is better than its predecessor in almost every conceivable way. The new Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7-inch is such a device.

Externally, it's almost unrecognizable from the first Amazon Kindle Fire launched about 10 months ago. That product had a reference-design look and, in hardware and software, an almost rushed feel. There was one protruding power button that users could tri… Continue reading...

Depending on how you interpret the game of basketball, the NBA has just released either the awesome-est or gross-est highlight reel to hit YouTube.

The clip features Brian Scalabrine. Scalabrine, for the uninitiated, is a red-haired, pasty-faced journeyman center who spent eleven seasons warming the bench for three different teams. He was alternately loathed and loved by fans for his herky jerky moves, decided lack of hops and human-victory-cigar status before announcing his retirement from the NBA earlier this month.

In a nod of respect to the man some know as the "White Mamba" (as opposed to Kobe Bryant's "Black Mamba") the NBA on Tuesday shared this expertly produced two-minut… Continue reading...

Instagram and bikes were destined for one another from the very start. Not only is the bicycle the official vehicle of the hipster, but its beautiful geometry, cute baskets, heritage leather saddles, and blurred spokes look really good in filters like Hudson, Rise, and Valencia.

Plus, let's face it, bike-related pictures are at least as interesting as food and cats. So, if you'd like some cycling inspiration, check out these incredible cycling-themed Instagram shots.

In his first public interview since Facebook's IPO, CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that making big bets on HTML5 for its mobile apps was a "big mistake."

Facebook was one of the first major companies to embrace HTML5 -- not just as the basis for its mobile web experience, but also for its apps for iOS and Android.

That focus was based on the idea that HTML5 would be an easy way to develop for multiple platforms and screen sizes at one time, and that the overall experience would be similar to a native app. It did not account for stability or speed.

Microsoft has been approved for a patent that could take gaming to a whole new dimension, allowing images from the TV to be projected around the room to create a 360-degree virtual display.

The company, which filed for the patent in March 2011, details a technology that would project a peripheral image onto environmental surfaces such as furniture and walls around a user. The focus would be on one primary image -- for example, what's highlighted in a game displayed on a TV -- but projections around the room would serve as an extension.

This means a gamer would be able to "turn around and observe an enemy sneaking up from behind."

Zuckerberg made his point about gaming after talking about what things he was excited about on the Facebook platform. He mentioned that Zynga, who has been struggling lately with falling stock prices and departing executives, was losing market share on the platform, but that other game companies had risen to take its place.

It looks like Wall Street liked what Mark Zuckerberg had to say in his first interview since Facebook went public.

Facebook's stock was up as much as 4.6% following Zuckerberg's interview with TechCrunch on Tuesday, rising above $20 a share for the first time in more than three weeks. At the time of publication, the stock had dipped back down slightly, but was still up more than 3%.

From the moment he took the stage, Zuckerberg made it clear that his intention was to appease investors. He led off the interview by acknowledging that the Facebook IPO has been "disappointing" and noting that "we care about our shareholders." Zuckerberg went on to reassure those listening that Facebook… Continue reading...

Photo-sharing app Instagram, fresh from finalizing its acquisition by Facebook, has crossed the 100 million users mark. That's according to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"They're this super-talented bunch of engineers, they just crossed 100 million users," Zuckerberg told the audience at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco Tuesday. "They're just killing it."

Last we heard from Instagram, the service had 80 million users. That was at the end of July, which suggests that the app -- now available on both iPhone and Android -- is seeing upward of 10 million downloads a month.

But for Zuck, that still isn't enough. "We want to help them grow to hundreds of… Continue reading...

Crest toothpaste displayed a previously unknown comic side this week when it launched a Twitter exchange with comedian John Freiler, in which the latter accused the former of donating funds to Al Qaeda and called its signature product "toothgoop."

However, rather than taking offense, the Procter & Gamble brand rolled with the punches, matching wits with the comic.

The exchange started gently enough, with Freiler claiming unauthorized use of the product:

1. Duck 2012

The University of Oregon says its duck mascot is the ideal candidate this fall. The duck's smooth website features a candidacy announcement embedded from YouTube, as well as a bunch of other links riffing off the premise.

The 2012 presidential campaign is an opportunity for Americans to exercise their right to equal say. They will determine who leads them through the next four years, amid a climate of cultural discord and economic uncertainty.

It's also a ripe time for advertisers looking to tie their marketing campaigns to the election hype.

Whether via a faux presidential candidate or an actual political personality, ads are reflecting the intertwined nature of American democracy and capitalism -- and we still have two months left until election day. Some election-themed marketing campaigns are good for a few chuckles; others you'll find cringe-worthy. And still others prove the viral power of a time… Continue reading...

Justin Wilcox and his team of developers were feeling pretty good about their startup ThingsWeStart, an online map of active Kickstarter projects, which launched on Monday after months of work. The startup had secured a fair amount of positive press and was starting to see some nice traffic, until suddenly the site stopped working -- an entrepreneur's worst nightmare on launch day.

"We discovered it when half the team had gotten together at a coffee shop to celebrate and react to the press in real time, and we noticed we couldn't actually get to the site," Wilcox told Mashable. "At this point, I had pulled an all-nighter and was pretty delirious. Our team was upset and frustrated."… Continue reading...

After the company's continuous stock price drop, last week Zuckerberg announced that he wouldn't be selling any of his shares of Facebook for at least a year. The move raised Facebook's stock price and inspired confidence in some investors who were concerned that the CEO might cash out on his shares and send shares of he company even lower. The move was not enough, however, to stop some from suggesting he should resign from his position and replace himself with a more capable CEO.

Today the CEO is out of hiding, doing his first interview on stage in front of a room of entrepreneurs, startup f… Continue reading...

Boingo Wireless, one of the largest Wi-Fi providers in the world, will team up with Google to bring free Wi-Fi to more than 4,000 hotspots across the U.S. for the month of September.

Through Google Play, the web-search giant will partner with Boingo to give Wi-Fi connections free of charge. In turn, these hotspots will enable advertisers to reach a big audience of consumers in a global advertising network. In other words, Google targeted ads will subsidize your free connection. Normally, unlimited access to Boingo Wi-Fi hotspots costs $10 a month, and there are also different hourly rates depending on the location.

A new study suggests that three in four iPhone owners will likely upgrade their current model to Apple's next-generation smartphone by the end of 2013.

AYTM Research -- which surveyed 3,000 U.S. consumers (22% of which are already iPhone owners) to measure the anticipation of the launch -- found that 24% of current iPhone users have their sights set on upgrading to the latest version by the end of this year. Meanwhile, about 25% said they will likely upgrade in the first half of 2013 and 26% anticipate upgrading in the second half. In total, this equates to about 75% of current iPhone owners plan on getting an upgrade in the next year.

Television has long been considered the dominant medium for political advertising, and that's mostly still true -- spending on TV ads by campaigns and Super PACs this year alone is expected to reach $2.9 billion. However, campaigns are increasingly putting more of their advertising budget into the web -- to the tune of seven times more than they spent online in 2008.

It's a trend that was evident across the Internet during the Republican and Democratic National Convention. Over the past two weeks, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's campaigns waged digital warfare to get more eyeballs on their content -- and their message. Along the way, they made every effort to out-innovate the other side th… Continue reading...

1. My IPhone

On June 29, 2007, the world -- or people with a hefty enough wallet -- got their hands on the first iPhone. With long lines and a price tag that made some folks flinch, a few crafty gadget geeks decided to DIY their own Apple smartphones.

On the eve of the iPhone 5 announcement, we decided to take a look back at the brilliant makeshift iPhones of yesteryear.